This invention relates to a drive arrangement for a supercharger and more particularly to an improved drive arrangement for a supercharged automotive engine.
Recently, superchargers have enjoyed considerable popularity as a means for increasing the power output of an internal combustion engine without increasing its displacement. Although a wide variety of arrangements are provided for driving the supercharger of an engine from the engine, the driving arrangements generally fall into two distinct categories. In one of these categories, the supercharger embodies a turbine stage that is driven by the engine exhaust gases so as to drive its compressor stage. This type of supercharger is generally called a turbocharger or exhaust turbocharger. In the other form of arrangement, the supercharger is driven directly by the engine through some mechanical drive. The turbocharger basically has the advantage of simplicity, however, the fact that the exhaust gases are used to drive the turbine stage gives rise to cooling and heat problems and the volumetric efficiency loses attendant to the heating of the supercharged air mixture. However, on the other hand, the mechanical drive of the supercharger from the engine presents certain difficulties when one considers the number of additional accessories that are driven by the engine in modern motor vehicles. In vehicles having the transverse engine placement, the driving arrangement becomes even more complicated and difficult.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved driving arrangement for a supercharger.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a supercharger driving arrangement wherein the supercharger is driven mechanically from the engine in such a way as not to interfere with the other engine driven accessories.